'Gers Spay 'Hounds in Opener, 6-0

FC77 Rangers 6 : 0 Wolfhounds FC

(Muralt - PK 10'; Youssef 15'; Ingersoll 20';

Gullung 25'; King 28', 35')

FC77 Rangers announced their return to the GPSD O-30 Third Division with authority on Sunday, crushing rivals Wolfhounds FC 6-0 at Rob Strasser Field in North Portland. An almost flawless first half of soccer put the match out of reach twenty minutes after kick-off as the Yellow and Black cruised to their eleventh consecutive Blue Monk Derby victory. Cheered on by an enthusiastic trio of Junior Rangers, for the first time in approximately a year Rangers looked like Rangers...and it was friggin' dog-gone awesome.

Get it? Dog-gone awesome. Dog. Gone. Awesome. Get it? Of course you do.

Starting XI:

Silverman, goalkeeper

Pullen - Calkins - Payne, fullbacks

Snyder, holding midfielder

Ingersoll - Muralt - Bennouri - Burden, midfielders

Gullung - King, strikers

Reserves: Youssef

Not Available: Reyes, Nollenberger, Radigan, Fahrbach, Bauman, Seaton

The delayed 11:00 a.m. start, under the mindful auspices of match official Andy, showed promise for FC77 right from the beginning. Playing the outside wing game that earned them success in the previous spring campaign, 'Gers maintained an approximate 70% - 30% possession advantage over their opponents for the entire first half. Keeper Aaron Silverman touched the ball twice--both times for goal kicks. Muralt, Bennouri, and Snyder kept tight control of the center of the field, ably assisted by Pullen, Calkins and Payne, who all showed calm and collected control when the ball occasionally did reach their high line.

Charles Gullung's second foray into the box around the tenth minute found him tackled from behind and Referee Andy showed no hesitation pointing to the spot. Still recovering from...uh...man surgery, Gullung deferred the penalty kick to Muralt, who clinically dispatched the ball into the back left side of the net for an early lead. 'Gers doubled their advantage five minutes later when Bennouri--returning from a winter stint with FC77 PBR--turned the right back and flashed a quick box into the mixer. Ingersoll's shot ricocheted off the 'Hound central defense, eventually landing at Youssef's feet. The Ranger substitute blasted a shot from 9 yards out past 'Hound keeper's right side and with a joyous whoop, put the match all but out of reach.

But there was more. Oh, was there more. A smartly played arching ball from Bennouri just five minutes later dropped behind the Wolfhound left back and Capt. Seanny rushed wildly past to receive it. Smartly taking possession on the bounce about thirty yards out, the strikingly handsome manager turned into the box and, finding himself one on one with the keeper, blasted a shot back into the far corner for the third. This made Ingersoll very happy because he usually whiffs it and obligingly, he flashed the Ranger "Gangsta" sign to celebrate. This is important to note because in the thirtieth minute Bennouri turned the right back again and served up the most beautiful pass to a wide open Ingersoll on the six yard line. Instead of tapping it in, he ripped a shot over the bar in defiance of all known laws of geometry and physics. Crumpling to his knees in shame, Ingersoll will be mercilessly taunted until he scores again.

Gullung opened his Ranger account just a few minutes after that with a cheeky chip on the near post. Running onto another dangerous attack, Gullung (playing only for the second time with Rangers) beat the keeper and managed to pop the ball up and over the goalie. The ripple of the net signaled a fourth.

'Gers veteran King earned himself an inaugural brace in the next ten minutes. The first goal [King: Correct me if I'm wrong as you know I value my journalistic integrity] came off a thundering run through the middle and ended with a clinical finish to the near side, while his second in the 35th was a hustle play to rush onto the end of a widely slotted shot and put it back across the face of goal and into the net. Both goals were the result of some neat passing against a slightly blitzkreiged defense. Although he didn't get on the score sheet, Burden played his typical high energy game with several left-side runs and crisp passing with Bennouri and Muralt.

Ingersoll's half time team talk was essentially, "Let's give Silverman a clean sheet," and while 'Hounds continued to put up a spirited display and earn three or four shots in the second half, the Pullen-Calkins-Payne Axis held strong. Snyder stymied several closer-in attacking moves but was not required to execute his trademark flawless slide tackle. Silverman did slide out to meet a striker on a far run late in the match but the result was never in doubt.

Despite frequent attacks on the Wolfhounds net, a seventh goal was surprisingly not to be found. Youssef got a one on one midway through the half and was, like his captain, also unlucky to find the net. Not so easy after all, is it my friend? Eh? Gullung picked up a caution in the seventieth minute after exchanging words with the opposing keeper and...uh...aggressively giving him the ball. A steady flurry of shots and offside calls kept their defense busy until the final whistle and the six goal first half barrage proved to be the story of the afternoon.

"The boys looked sharp and we executed as well as we ever have in the first half," Ingersoll said after the match. "If we play like we did today every week, the results will go our way. And if we don't play like we that, I guess I start cutting people from the team. Ha! Just kidding. But not really."

Match Summary:

RAN-Muralt (PK), 10'

RAN-Youssef, 15'

RAN-Ingersoll, 20'

RAN-Gullung, 25'

RAN-King, 28'

RAN-King, 35'

Halftime: RAN 6-0 WFC

Discipline: RAN-Gullung (Yellow), 70'

Attendance: 10-ish. Kind of.

Next Match:

FC77 Rangers (1-0-0, 3 Points) v CHA CHA CHA 0-30 (0-1-0, 0 Points)

Sunday, 10 April, 2011

Rob Strasser Field, Delta Park East

Portland, Oregon

9:00 a.m. KO